A Veteran's Journey to Empowering Others Through Holistic Healing and Recovery
In a recent episode of Reduce the Stigma, host Whitney sat down with Patrick Bibza, founder and CEO of Steel City Hardcore Recovery. A United States Navy veteran and licensed social worker, Bibza shared his powerful journey through addiction, trauma, and recovery. Describing recovery as a battle that requires immense strength, he refers to those in recovery as “warriors.” Bibza’s approach focuses on holistic well-being, targeting the body, mind, and soul to help individuals achieve meaningful, lasting transformation.
Steel City Hardcore Recovery was founded to support not only veterans but also adolescents and civilians in need of physical, mental, and spiritual growth. Bibza’s passion for addressing trauma and mental health, paired with his personalized programs, provides a lifeline to those seeking to reclaim their lives.
Through connection, accountability, and a focus on holistic recovery, his mission is to help individuals become the best version of themselves, proving that real transformation requires resilience, effort, and strong community support.
Mentioned in the episode:
Click here for the episode’s full transcript.
About Our Guest:
Patrick Bibza LSW CPT and Veteran of the United States Navy created SteelCityHxCxRecovery LLC in 2022. The basis of the company was to help at risk adolescents who were struggling with behavior, mental health and substance abuse issues. In 2024, the company expanded and is now providing mental, physical and spiritual support for Veterans and civilians alike.
SteelCityHxCxRecovery’s goal is to strengthen the body, mind and soul so that when life hits hard, we, together can fight back!! We provide physical fitness along with health and wellness classes, mental health seminars and spiritual guidance, both in person and digitally.
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Transcript
Whitney (00:47)
Hello and welcome to Reduce the Stigma. Today I’m talking with Patrick Bibza, founder and CEO of Steel City Hardcore Recovery. A veteran of the United States Navy, a licensed social worker, and a warrior in recovery, Patrick created Steel City Hardcore Recovery with a goal to strengthen the body, mind, and soul for physical, mental, and spiritual growth. Patrick, thank you so much for joining me today.
Patrick Bibza (01:16)
Whitney, thank you for having me on.
Whitney (01:18)
It’s always wonderful when I get to have somebody on who I’ve had the pleasure of talking to before. And when we last spoke, I was so energized and excited about what you’re up to. And I think there are going to be so many people who also resonate with your story and what you’re doing. I’d like to start by asking, you know, the identification as a warrior in recovery. Can you tell us a little bit more about what that means?
Patrick Bibza (01:48)
Sure, I would love to. our first conversation, I loved the energy that we had and I knew that this was gonna take off and go in a direction that I wasn’t even aware of. But in regards to your question, recovery is a battle. I don’t think that it’s for sissies. Recovery is not for sissies. And it takes someone strong, dedicated, motivated to overcome what I believe is a mental and physical allergy that manifests in a way that a quote unquote normal person doesn’t typically relate to. So it takes a warrior to go to battle against this demon that honestly takes over our body, and soul.
Whitney (02:29)
That’s a way of looking at it that, you know, I’ve heard pieces of it, but never put into such a spot on reflection. And it makes me think about how incredibly strong individuals who achieve recovery are. And even for those who are working towards recovery, it is not easy. And I think that, you know, there’s such a big misunderstanding that people who maybe are having substance use or mental health issues that they’re weak, when in reality, that’s just not the case.
Patrick Bibza (03:04)
I agree. I think that people in recovery and actually in active addiction, they’re the most resilient people that I know and have the most promising I don’t want to say future, they have the capability of really overcoming any adversity because they’re already going through hell on a daily basis. My act of addiction was going through the sludge. Sometimes I’m digging through just trying to get to that next one. I would go to any means. I would figure out a way I could overcome absolutely anything. So when I got into recovery and became a warrior, it wasn’t that difficult to be successful without the drugs and alcohol involved in my
Whitney (03:40)
And that’s such a, like, I hope more people can see that for themselves because there’s so much negativity put on individuals whenever they are struggling with substance use or mental health or really trauma, anything. Whenever they’re going through something, there’s so much self -doubt. And yet, you know, I certainly don’t want to encourage any sort of activity that contributes to, you know, substance use or, illegal activities. However, I know that the creativity and the resolve that it can take, that can be applied in other ways and the person just flourishes, which I’m guessing is the story.
Patrick Bibza (04:25)
Yeah. And I can relate totally to what you were just talking about with the PTSD or the trauma. There’s typically some kind of an event that has happened. And I do remember one of my first ever meetings, a guy came up to me he said, well, what was, what was the starting point? Like what made you start using? And I’m thinking to myself, like, there was nothing, man. I just like getting high. I like getting drunk because at that point I did, I was 21 years old, 22 years old. I was still enjoying it. But when I looked back, you know, through doing step work through the anonymous programs that I’m a part of. You know, there was a point and it had to do with trauma. And when I used and I drank, people ask, what’s your drug of choice? Escape. I just want to escape reality because my reality at that time from the age of 14 was completely distorted. The way that I perceived myself, the way that I perceived others, and when I put something into my body, whether it was a drug, an alcohol, a relationship, a big gamble, it made me feel powerful. It made me feel different because that trauma took that power away from
Whitney (05:35)
Your drug of choice was an escape. And then how, you know, recognizing that comes through a lot of hard work and achieving a place of recovery. What was that process? So you mentioned the 12 -step programs. What else contributed to you, you know, getting to where you are today?
Patrick Bibza (06:02)
Lordy lord, how much time do we have? I think if I could summarize it, it would be a lot of pain, a lot of pain, a lot of experience. People could tell me pretty much anything. I recognize that I was an alcoholic. I admitted that I was an addict, but to the point of like when I accepted it and had to really be like, wow, I can’t do anything. Like I am.
Whitney (06:03)
Hahaha!
Patrick Bibza (06:23)
It became every four days. I would drink and use. I would go into a rehab or go into a detox and then four days later I would forget. I have a disease that for that tries to trick me into forgetting of how bad it was. Many, many of rehabs and as a veteran of the United States Navy, I’ve went through, I want to say a handful of the CTAD program, which is the Center for Treatment of Addictive Disorders, phenomenal program. They teach you so much. However, if I’m not ready, I’m not ready. Maturity played a huge role in that with the trauma, you know, 14 years old. I stopped developing. I was also traumatized while in the military at 20. I stopped developing So as a 30 year old, I’m behaving like a 20-25 year old. I just wasn’t ready. So I think What it really came down to is I knew that I was taking bullets. I always use this metaphor of like I had armor on and the armor I had was based off of these different hats that I was wearing to like protect certain areas with different kinds of armor. And these bullets were flying at me. And every time I’d get knocked down, I just had to get back up and I asked for, and I would ask for help. Even if I didn’t know what that help would look like in the long run, I knew that going back to a rehab. It was like taking my car to the mechanic. I cannot fix my own car. I might be able to change a tire, maybe, but there was so much more that needed help, that needed repair. So when I go to treatment, they offer me these tools, they fix the car up. Then there’s the aftercare. What do I do after I get out of the bubble of safety? And that’s where I slipped up at several points. They would offer continued care. And I would say, no, I got this. That’s the problem. I have nothing. I cannot do this alone. Whether it’s a higher power, it’s the program, it’s talking to therapists, know, whatever it is, it’s just as an addict or a person in recovery or as a warrior in recovery, as I call myself. This isn’t a, this isn’t a loan. We go to war, we go to battle with a bunch of other soldiers. You know, I can’t see where the enemy’s flanking around me if I don’t have some good, you know, recon specialists. So that’s kind of how, and I’ll, and I’ll revert back to like, so when I was in grad school, my undergrad, I was using heroin pretty regularly. During my graduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh, I was using cocaine every day, drinking all day. So I was a very, they say, addict. And functioning addiction, sure, protected me, it saved me, it got me through X, Y, and Z, but I couldn’t see my ultimate future. I couldn’t see that light at the end of the tunnel before I could remove, before I removed the substances, the mental health aspect of it. You don’t know if it’s depression, anxiety, plethora of those, while you’re still having a substance. So removing the substance, identifying the mental health, seeking mental professional help, maybe getting on medication, treatments, therapies, and then get into the 12 steps. They don’t get me clean and sober. They help me find a power greater than myself, and they help me be a better person. I don’t want to just be clean and sober. I don’t want to be miserable. I don’t want to be discontent. I want to be the best damn version of myself I can be.
Whitney (09:49)
Well, you’re doing that. Here you are today, right? And I know there’s so much we could still dive into there. I want to move into, you created a business, you created an organization to be that best version of yourself. Can you tell us about Steel City Hardcore Recovery?
Patrick Bibza (10:12)
Sure, I would love to. Let me start off by saying it was terrifying. It was terrifying going against the norm. I’ve had careers and successful jobs that provided me financial stability. And I’ve always been a risk taker and I wanted to jump out of that norm. I wanted to be my own boss. So I started Steel City HHardcore Recovery in 2022. The mission began as helping at -risk adolescents from
Whitney (10:16)
Heheheheh!
Patrick Bibza (10:40)
poverty stricken homes and areas. Typically they were being dismissed from their educational system and they needed guidance. So I was kicking butt, let’s say, with these adolescents and getting positive feedback and helping, you know, dozens of adolescents at a time. And I just wanted to do a little bit more. I’ve always wanted to get back to the veteran population. I’ve worked in the VA hospital. I’ve worked with wounded warriors and disabled veterans with PTSD. And then I also thought there is a mass amount of the population who’s not in recovery, who’s not a veteran and who isn’t an adolescent. So how can I get these people involved? And that’s why I expanded Steel City Hardcore Recovery from an independent social work therapy practice to a wellness opportunity that, you know, targets the body, mind and soul. Because I think, and from my experience, typically look at one of those three or maybe two of those three and really strengthening the connection of all three to an equal degree is key in order to fully transform your life into the next version that you want to see. We don’t have to be stuck with who we are.
Whitney (11:54)
So you started working with adolescents. That’s a tough population.
Patrick Bibza (11:59)
I started with veterans at first in the mental health field. I actually worked at Pittsburgh behavioral, Pittsburgh Mercy behavioral, and I was making crisis calls and going to locations in the, how do I want to put this? Our mental health system sucks. It’s broken. We diagnose, we medicate, and then we make crisis calls. There’s no preventative measures that are, that are working. So when I went from that, I went to a veteran population, which I absolutely loved. Love my veterans. We’re stubborn, we’re entitled, know, we, who, rah, who, yah, kind of thing. But they relate, they related to me. And I saw a relation too with the adolescents because, know, I’m a tattooed social worker. I’m kind of stuck in that kind of middle age, you know, thinking I’m younger than I am, you know, going down and playing basketball with the kids, taking on a McDonald’s, sitting down one -on -one with them and just shooting the shit. Like I’m not gonna report you unless you’re talking about hurting yourself, hurting someone else or someone being hurt. And then they start to trust. You plant the seed. I will attempt to nurture and help them grow it, but it’s up to them. But planting that seed of trust, many of my adolescents don’t have a father figure. They don’t have a male role model and they don’t trust anybody. yeah, working with the adolescent field was fun.
Whitney (13:19)
And of course there’s the parallel to your story when you shared that you can identify at 14 is kind of when things started for you. And so I imagine, you know, working with that age group in ways you were working with who you were and helping them maybe go down a different path than what you experience.
Patrick Bibza (13:40)
That is so powerful and so real. I can think back to what happened when I was 14 and the sexual trauma that occurred and the way that it shaped my life. It shaped my life for 20 plus years. So being able to meet these kids at an age where my development started, I just, yeah, there’s something there I see myself in them. And it really, it means a lot.
Whitney (14:06)
And I’m sure it means a lot to the kids you’ve been able to work with. And there’s so many times where we forget about the child who was hurt that is now an adult before us. Because when it’s a child, we will all bend over backwards, right, as we should. And then it changes. We expect children to know better when they’re an adult and you know why did you make that choice? Well as you shared you know you in ways didn’t continue developing right and there were parts of you that were locked at 14 and until you could process and revisit and rework. So why are we having these unrealistic expectations for adults until we help them resolve that childhood and adolescent trauma?
Patrick Bibza (14:57)
Well, and I think that’s a big part of what Steel City Hardcore Recovery does. I use this book called The Shadow Working Guide. Carl Jung started it and then a woman put it into a working book. And I’ll tell you, I don’t know anybody that doesn’t have some kind of a stuck point where in my metaphor mind, it’s a weed. It’s a weed that got put into our life garden and we’ve been providing it nutrients subconsciously and it’s growing and it’s growing rapidly. So being able to identify with the help of someone like myself, that’s a weed. It’s not benefiting me anymore. Let’s remove it and let’s remove it together. Then we have the opportunity to start prushing, start, what am I trying to say? Seeding, we start planting, planting new seeds, new flowers, new vegetables, whatever you want to grow in your garden, but healthy, nutritious. And what do weeds do? They zap that nutrition. So anytime one pops up, boom, we pull it out immediately.
Whitney (15:54)
Yeah, and I like the emphasis on doing it together. We’re not meant to be solo. It’s tremendously hard in general, but to do it alone is near impossible.
Patrick Bibza (16:06)
And that is one thing I want to segment into. There’s an organization I work with, a nonprofit called Eyes Wide Shut. And it’s about doing things together. It’s about identifying the child and seeing that, you know, we’re not connecting anymore. We are so in our technology. We’re so in our world out here. We need to engage. We need to engage with the adolescents, with the youth. We need to engage with the community, with the parents, and help them see that there are not only physical components to being in your phone and on your tablet looking down, causing issues to your neck and your shoulders, but there’s also the mental addiction characteristics that come from these games they’re playing and the way that they are algorithm. Algorized there’s an algorithm to these claims that catch them into an addiction just like casinos use slot machines And then there’s the spiritual disconnect where we don’t have family dinners anymore We can’t talk with our parents about this weed that’s coming up in our garden and our parents go. Hey, let’s help out with that So that’s what this organization eyes wide shut really does is we’re trying to come together in order to Shed light on what’s happening to these children because if not, we’re gonna be flowing with weed children that are adults that are growing into adults
Whitney (17:26)
Right? Absolutely. mean, the presence of technology has impacted every aspect of an individual’s development. The constant availability of entertainment, getting the likes for the dopamine hits and things like that. I mean, we’re not really recognizing or taking enough action to help it because even as adults are doing it, I know that if I have a comment that has a hundred likes, I’m feeling pretty good, right? So we have to look at ourselves too. What are we modeling? Are we modeling sitting on the couch next to a young one and looking at our phone? Or are we saying, hey, let’s go for a
Patrick Bibza (18:14)
Right? Instant gratification is so addictive. And as parents, and I don’t have children of my own, but I do find when I go visit my nephews, my mother, I’m on my device and I hate myself for doing that. But that’s the same way as I say I’m a warrior in recovery. I just need to take the steps to realize this is becoming unmanageable. And luckily at this point I can put my phone down, but I foresee if I was a fortune teller that the longer these children are in their phones, the harder it’s going to be. And there are pros and cons to technology. I’m not anti -technology. I just want to educate the power for good. What does Spider -Man say? If you have the great responsibility or great power comes with great responsibility. We’re using this internet and this technology. We need to be responsible.
Whitney (18:49)
Right, right.
Absolutely. And it all, all of what you’re saying makes me think about what you, when you mentioned the mental health system and how it’s not preventative, you are taking a preventative approach. Yes, you’re helping people in a recovery sense, you know, but also getting involved early with adolescents. I imagine also for individuals who maybe, you know, I know that you don’t just work with individuals who are in recovery, you work with anyone who needs that wellbeing. And that is preventative, taking action today so that you don’t get to a place of burnout or a place of distress where you search for something else to help or to escape.
Patrick Bibza (19:45)
Absolutely. And let’s talk about escape for a second. 22 veterans a day commit suicide. 22. There has to be a way, and I get chills when I talk about this because it drives me mad. There has to be a way that we can get to them before they get to the hospital, before they are at that point where they’re seeking help and when they’re at the point they’re ready. They’re going to do it. And what are we doing? I don’t care. I want to get to them before then. Figure out what’s making this tick and how can I help? You want to go fishing? Do you want to go out and shoot the shit and have some coffee? Can we have a little camaraderie? Let’s talk about some stuff. Let’s talk about some real things. And that doesn’t just work. It’s not just a veteran approach. I’m just saying the fact that 22 commits suicide a day drives me nuts. But as civilians, as adolescents, I want to get to the problem of you’re being bullied at school. Let’s talk about it before you go shoot up that school, before you go do something that’s going to change your
Whitney (20:40)
And when you were talking about the horrific amount of suicide death or of veteran deaths by suicide that our country is seeing, it made me think of the technology that our exposure to it, because I was thinking, what could be different compared to previous wars and things like that? Well, I hadn’t thought of it before, but the constant access to videos on YouTube, to the news of bombings, of shootings, of all these things. I’m guessing when someone came back decades ago from, you know, serving, there wasn’t this daily exposure. And that I can’t imagine. Talk about triggers for trauma and just how painful it must be.
Patrick Bibza (21:35)
I have a grandfather and an uncle who just passed away who I remember growing up when the 4th of July would come and the fireworks could go off and they would shell shock. They would lock up. You know, they didn’t know how to handle it. They thought they were back there. That was once a year, maybe twice, three times a year on the daily, myself included and reminded of triggers of what happened. Whether it was over there, I was not a combat veteran, but I work with a ton of combat vets and they come back addicted to something, whether it’s a drug and alcohol, perhaps it’s the action and they come home and how do you deal with it? And they’re watching these action movies, they’re watching these war movies or just turning on the news and seeing the disgusting nature of human on human crime. No wonder we go back out there and use no wonder we have PTSD symptoms that cause self harm and no wonder we commit
Whitney (22:34)
Right. What? And I know this is not an easy problem to solve. I’m curious. I’m sure you have some ideas. What could we be doing differently?
Patrick Bibza (22:45)
I first want to say that I believe that the VA and these other veteran organizations are doing a good job and it’s progressively changing every month, every day. They’re getting more information, more data. They’re working with the veterans to see what could help you. So I’m not trying to change the wheel or reinvent the wheel. I think it’s just making it more available and spotlighting it. You, you turn on a Super Bowl commercial and they’ll promote alcohol left and right, but where’s the commercials for veteran, you know, awareness? And it’s not just a crisis line. A crisis line is great. You can call and have a crisis line, but where’s the…where’s the camaraderie website that we can just talk together? Know, where, you know, there are organizations that’ll take you fishing, they’ll take you hunting, they’ll get together and we’ll have coffee and stuff. We just need more. It needs to be as prevalent and as advertised as the casinos advertisements about the politics advertisements. Talk about a trigger for veterans politics. I go to the VA hospital, you have 50 % on the left, 50 on the right, and we’re going to war with each other in the United States of America. And right now, the veterans are even divided.
Whitney (24:00)
Wow, I had never even thought about that perspective. Previously I had conversations with veterans of what it’s like to serve for a war you may not support or about an effort you may not support. I had not thought about coming back, returning to civilian life, and then there being that division from the people who are the only ones who have any idea what they are going through.
Patrick Bibza (24:29)
There is a disconnect between civilian population and veteran population. There’s a disconnect between generational wars, Vietnam to the wars that are happening now and so forth. But what I’m seeing now is even more of a disconnect because of politics and political views and ideologies that are veterans across the board to just come at each other instead of coming together and it blows my mind. It drives me crazy, but like we just circle back, it’s technology. The information we’re getting may be true, it may be false. People get to believe whatever they want. How about sit down and have a conversation with that person based on beliefs? I can disagree with you, you can disagree with me. It doesn’t mean I hate you. But it seems like the left hates the right, the right hates the left, and they don’t even know why.
Whitney (25:20)
Yeah, great. And back to have a conversation, you have to have practiced it and have communication skills, which are going out the window. And it’s, you’re really, man, my mind is, is going a million miles an hour thinking about all of this. And it really highlights the necessity of programs like yours. And I know that you are not just serving veterans, that you are serving civilians as well, and really working on those almost, I want to say basic, maybe basic’s not the right word, I think overlooked, the overlooked core parts of our being, the physical, the mental, spiritual, you know, and that’s what you’re doing. And we heard about their origins and how you’ve now expanded. I realize we haven’t yet really heard what you’re offering. Can you tell us how do you do this work? How do you address those different components?
Patrick Bibza (26:34)
And it’s funny that we said that because to me, my organization isn’t as important as what we’re doing right now. The conversation, the dialogue, but I guess I’ll circle around to what I’m doing. So putting an emphasis on the body, mind and soul requires physical, mental and spiritual guidance. I truly believe that I have the capability to reach the masses because of my experience, my strength and my hope, a warrior in recovery, starting off as a bullied adolescent, picked on, belittled, beat up, joined the military because he was troubled, facing jail time, was traumatized in the service, many surgeries, addicted to pills, coming out, going into different schools and educations with no guidance. I was like an airplane or a boat just floating down the stream and I am the worst captain in the history of captains. So, you know, getting through the addiction, getting the mental health component taken, taken care of, know, getting physically in shape. I’m 200 pounds right now. Active addiction was 130. So let’s look at the physical component of nutrition, of exercise, of what it does to your mind to get a little bit of dopamine from something that isn’t technology. So we’re going to transition from the physical to the mental. We need to get those dopamine fixes elsewhere. We need to be confident in ourselves. We need to look at ourselves in the mirror and say, I am enough. And even when I’m not enough, it’s okay not to be okay. You know, I heard this once in a meeting and it stuck and it changed my recovery forever. I am not bad trying to get good. I am sick trying to get well. If I had cancer and it flared up after remission, would I beat myself up and say I’m bad because my cancer came back? No, I would try to get healthy and well again. And it affects my body, my mind and my soul, because let’s be real, we’re fighting a war right now with spirituality and demons, the higher power source, God, Buddha, whatever, nature. It doesn’t matter to me. There is a high frequency and a low frequency. And if you’re not feeding this one, you’re feeding this one. And all I’m trying to do today is just weigh out, balance of the scale so I’m a little bit higher than I was yesterday.
Whitney (29:00)
And how important, you’re right, we as a system silo out, right? Especially like we’re in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania is a carve out state. So you have medical on one side or physical on one side, behavioral health, mental health on the other. And we’ve done that. And then spiritual, that doesn’t come in unless you are in a 12 step program or where you are active in a religion, and yet that’s not how we live. We don’t live alone. I’m gonna just be my physical self today. No, we are all of those things constantly coming together, adapting and evolving. And we can’t, it just almost feels like weights, like holding you back or like if you try to only take care of one thing. So I love this holistic approach that you have. know, boost in the nutrition. Cooking is something that you’ll be able to offer guidance on. How do you feed your body, not just physically feeding it, but nurturing it, nurturing the garden, as you said.
Patrick Bibza (30:10)
Mm -hmm. It’s unity. It’s all three of those components and balance Too often we see people put all their time into work and neglect family or put all their time into family and neglect bills You know for me it’s like if I go to the gym and I look at the weights and expect results, I’m not going to get them. So I have to pick up those weights and do some work. That’s the same with my spirituality. If I’m praying to God, but I’m not doing the step work in order to get closer to that higher frequency, how do I just expect results? And if I want to be clean and sober, but I’m not willing to do anything for old timers used to say if you’re not ready to stop drinking, here’s five dollars. Come back when you are like that’s to me. It’s life or death. Too many I’m burying too many of my friends on the monthly basis, if not weekly basis.
Whitney (31:04)
And so as you are moving forward with Eyes Wide Shut, you’re involved with Steel City Hardcore Recovery. What are you hoping in the next maybe year to what impact are you aiming
Patrick Bibza (31:21)
My number one goal is I want to reach as many people as humanly possible. Financially, sure, making money is a great thing, but for me, nurturing as many people from all aspects of life, rich, poor, black, white, male, female, I just want them to be able to feel okay, to feel safe, that they have someone in their corner. And what I do is I provide daily reflections on the body, mind and soul. you follow my Facebook page, Steel City Hardcore Recovery, you know, you can follow that along. And every day I’m to give you a little just a little something, you know, just go with it. If you want to engage more, there’s different services that I do provide. There are 26 different programs that I will teach you skills that I’ve learned throughout my course of not only just life, but also collegiate academics and how I’ve just kind of grown to find a power greater than myself that has no religious tie. So between that going to colleges and universities, high schools, getting these adolescents where they start, because let’s be honest, by the time you graduate college, am I really going to influence you? I want to influence them at their most influential points, you know, it’s their lives. They can choose what they want to do, but understand that there are consequences. I’ve always talked about pivot points. We’re on this path and you’re going to have a point. You know, your friends want you to go to a party, they want to, you know, alcohol drugs, or you need to go home and study because your goal is you want to get into a higher form of education or trade. What are you going to choose? And I just want to let you know that there’s consequences to both of those actions. Let’s think. Let’s take a quick second and pause before we make a decision.
Whitney (33:10)
I’m a little speechless. just, that’s, I don’t think enough of those moments are happening. We live at a very fast pace and we expect, especially younger individuals, to make some very serious lifelong decisions, you know, that can impact lifelong at a young age. Thankfully now we can, our culture is more accepting of, you know, transitioning careers. It used to be you pick one thing at 18 and that’s what you do for the rest of your life. And that is just, who knows? I’m definitely a different person than I was at 18. So how do we put this pressure, right? And so it’s so great that you’re getting in at that time when, yeah, there are some things we can be fluid with, but there are other things, if you make a certain choice, it will follow you forever. If you get a record, it will follow you forever. And so we’re not always great at thinking about 10 years from now or what it will imply. I played rugby in college and I would say, had a lot of injuries prior to rugby and people would say, why are doing that to your body? And I would actually say, what’s the point of having a body if you don’t use it? Now, as I am very achy all over, well now I really wish I would have listened.
Patrick Bibza (34:38)
Thank you. We don’t take a lot of suggestions as an adolescent, even as a young adult, you know, think about the consequences. If I could share anything with these adolescents, it would be to pause. It would literally be, I wish I could just come into their brain and say, just take three seconds, please. Think about what’s going to happen when you pull that trigger. That guy’s making fun of you. That girl did X, Y, and Z. You’re feeling some kind of way and you shoot them.
Whitney (34:49)
No.
Patrick Bibza (35:10)
The gun violence in this country is ridiculous and we don’t think about the consequences of what happens. One, you’re going to jail for a real long time. Two, you’re taking a life, a life of another human being. That is someone’s child, that is someone’s loved one. The consequences are astonishing. Pause for a half a second, step back. What do they say the three R’s you want to retreat, rethink, and then react? We don’t do that. We don’t do that when we think about the bag of drugs in front of us, you know, it’s going to get me a natural high. It’s going to get not a natural, but an instant gratification. hi. It’s going to show off to my friends. I’m tough. It could kill you. There could be something in that bag and more than likely there is that could kill you. Let’s pause. Let’s take a second before we sign documents and paperwork for loans and credit cards. I can buy this now. Do you need it? Do you have any idea what it’s like to be in credit card debt? Do you have any idea what an interest rate even is? We’re not teaching our adolescents basic fundamental skills or like integrity, properties of just being a decent human.
Whitney (36:17)
Yeah. And then to go up, you know, to use the social work line of going upstream, why did they reach out for the gun or the substance or the this or the that? What could have been done to give them healthier coping skills? What education could have been provided before they signed for, you know, student debt that will end up they’ll pay five times what it actually costs for them to go. You know, what can we be doing? We can’t stop everything. We can minimize and reduce the likelihood and empower and prepare. And I just, so, I love hearing what you’re doing because we are a reactionary world and we need to be proactive.
Patrick Bibza (37:09)
And one of the biggest components of Steel City Hardcore recovery, and this comes from the military, is we do a pre -action report and we do a post -action report. So we like to check in and see what do we have planned for this week. What are we going to look at? What could be coming up? What kind of flags? What kind of harmful things could be presenting themselves? What do we want to accomplish? How do we accomplish that? We don’t just get things handed to us in lives. And then at the end of the week, we check in and we go, or we check out and go, okay, this worked. This didn’t work. Let’s write it down. Let’s take a look, let’s get some statistics on what’s working for me and what’s not. If you keep drinking every Friday, wondering why you’re waking up Monday, going into work, hung over, maybe we don’t drink on Friday. You know, if on Monday you want to work out and hit weights all week, but then you never go to the gym. Well, maybe we need to make a little different action plan where we, we actually go, we have the, we have dedication rather than this is what I want, know motivation.
Whitney (38:06)
Right. Well, I could keep going and talking with you all day. And so I want to be respectful of your time and also ensure that our listeners get the information to connect with you. You have mentioned your Facebook. How else or is there any other way that people can connect with
Patrick Bibza (38:27)
Sure. My website is in early development. It’s up and active. It’s www .steelcityhxcxrecovery .com. All of my other social media links are on there. I’m on Facebook and Twitter and TikTok and Instagram. There will be commercials coming up where you’ll be able to see and click on and sign up for consultations where you’ll have one -on -one sessions with me to figure out if programming is something you’re interested in, our goal is not to change anyone. Our goal is to transform and help see what the potential for transformation can look like. You’re right. Not everybody needs to go to college. Not everybody needs to have a trade. Not everybody’s going to be Michael Jordan. Let’s just see what we can do. Let’s lay out a blueprint for you. And they’re all customized. Customized. This isn’t some template. I’m going to ask you some questions. You’re going to give me some answers. And I’m going to provide you real ass feedback. I’m not going to sugar coat it. I’m not going to walk you through life with a leash and do you want to transform or don’t you want to transform? And if you do, I’m here.
Whitney (39:32)
Wow, I love that. And just to clarify, if someone does want to transform, they can meet with you if they’re in your area, which is Pittsburgh, or virtually,
Patrick Bibza (39:45)
Correct, yeah, everything that I’m doing right now is virtually accessible. My inpatient, my in person sessions will be advertised as they come up and as this grows. I’m always around, able as much as possible to answer a phone call or write an email back to just, you know, don’t be shy. You’re not alone out here.
Whitney (40:10)
Great. And if my question I ask everyone, there’s a lot to take away from today. We’ve hit on a lot of really important topics. If people can only take away one thing though from this conversation, what would you like it to
Patrick Bibza (40:26)
Recovery ain’t for sissies. I think that would probably be the one thing that I want to tell anybody out there is recovery ain’t for sissies. ain’t for the soft. It ain’t for the weak. You got to be a bad motherfucker to be in recovery, to recover and to turn your life around. You know, we’ve been conditioned from the moment we have our first thought and we have this unique sense of this is who I am. Why? Because you were told this. Let’s find our true selves. Let’s work towards that. Let’s nurture the positivity and never give up. You know, I’m never finished as David Goggins would say.
Whitney (41:07)
Well, I know that’s resonating with multiple people listening. And I hope everyone starts following you on Facebook and reaching out. You’re going to be doing such amazing things. You already are. I just want to thank you, Patrick, for sharing your story, talking about your own experience, and then also giving us all some inspiration for how to build something and have a positive, big impact. So thank you.
Patrick Bibza (41:36)
I want to thank you very much and one other real quick thing. My mother, her name is Paula Bibza and she’s a kidney cancer survivor. So I just want to let her know how important she is to me and my life. And without her, I wouldn’t be here.
Whitney (41:42)
Yes. right. Thank you, I am so happy that you shared that. Thank you. We’re gonna share some information in the show notes as well about kidney health awareness, as well as any actions you’d like to take. So everyone, thank you for listening. Pass this along. Anyone in your life who you think may benefit. Really the best way to reduce stigma is to continue having these discussions and conversations and just sharing them with people. So please pass it along, like, share, subscribe, comment. We want to hear from you. And everyone take care of yourself and we’ll talk to you soon.
